Nightingale
by QueenCocoChanelle
Summary: Max was supposed to be an adult after her senior year. Responsible, law-abiding and mature. "WE GOT MORE VODKA!" came Chelsea's voice as Max and the rest of the crowd cheered. Yeah, Max doubted she'd be adulting anytime soon. Then, the Avengers came into the picture, she found out she had a very complex past and her whole world turned upside down.
1. Max

**Hey fellow reader and fanfiction lovers.**

 **So, as you may or may not be able to tell, I'm on a real roll here with the Bucky Barnes/Sebastian Stan obsession and so I came up with yet another idea for a fanfic**

 **It's called** _ **Nightingale**_ **. I hope you enjoy it.**

Max de Bourbon was not a normal girl. That much, was obvious from the beginning.

Found on April 7th 2001 by a geography expedition, in the Amazon Rainforest of South America no less, Max's early memories include a ranger named Luka and an orphanage in Rio de Janeiro. No one knew where she came from, who her parents were, how the hell she managed to not get killed in the Amazon (filled with snakes and various other things that could quite easily kill a child), what her name was, how she got there or what to do with her. National Rangers and local and national authorities put out searches for her, but no one claimed the little girl. And so, she was dubbed an orphan.

Taken to a local hospital to be assessed for injuries, they came to the conclusion she was three and a half years old, had no illness that needed medication and was psychologically in a sound state. When they asked her questions, they came to the conclusion she was smarter than most kids her age, she talked like a 10-year-old. She was stronger than most kids her age too. But, she still had no parents.

That's where the orphanage in Rio de Janeiro came in. The Sisters of Ave Maria ran an orphanage on the outskirts of the city where she was raised among other kids who had no parents. They named her Lolita. That was Sister Angela's idea. She liked Sister Angela, she was kind, taught them lots of things, how to cook and clean and taught them Spanish while Sister Emeline taught them Portuguese which was necessary being the native language of Brazil. And so, she grew up multi-lingual.

Max didn't mind the orphanage, they were all friendly. Except for Carlos, Vince and Dominic. She didn't like those three. Even though Carlos seemed to rather like her. They played in the street, soccer of course, until the street lights came on and the sisters where sure that every child was safely back in the house. Max always knew they weren't completely safe. There was a lot of crime in Rio. So, the older kids always watched out for the younger ones. Sofia was like her older sister, until the day she was adopted by a rich couple from Spain.

Max often wondered when she would be adopted. She was 7 when it happened.

Her savior came for her August 3rd 2005.

Adaline Marie Taylor was the most beautiful woman Max had ever seen.

She was moderately tall, with raven hair, lightly tanned skin, bright hazel eyes and a most beautiful smile upon her seemingly glowing face.

She worked for Doctors Without Borders with her fiancé Louis de Bourbon(pronounced loo-wee, not Lewis, he insisted). She was in Brazil for her job and with her they brought their nine-year old daughter, Lily with them. Apparently, she'd been in an accident some years back that left her unable to have children and so she was looking to adopt. They never imagined they would adopt through their job. They never thought having to treat a little boy would result in them adopting said little boy and another little girl.

Adaline had checked out Max, like she did with all the other girls, and was fascinated by her intelligence, she was only 6, but spoke rather eloquently and was incredibly bright. Max had spent a whole hour showing Adaline all the math she had learnt that week. She also showed her around the place and told her about all the children at the orphanage.

As it turned out, Adaline and Louis both came from old family money and due to Max, helped get all the children adopted. But not before they adopted her. Well, her and one other.

Max spent her time with one boy in particular. He was new, only two years old and named Christopher.

And so, after deciding together, Adaline and Louis adopted Lolita Maria and Christopher Angelo on September 17th 2005. Lolita even chose a new name for herself. After watching Get Smart (the original TV show) with Louis and seeing all the cool things the Maxwell Smart could do, she had decided her name would be Max. and no matter how hard they tried, Max wouldn't answer to anything other than Max.

" _It's a boy's name Addy" Louis sighed while they both lay in bed._

" _I have an idea, but for now, go to sleep" Adaline smiled softly at her fiancé's protest._

" _What's the idea?" Louis said straightening up a little._

" _Tomorrow, now go to sleep" she said while switching off her light._

" _Addy-" he tried._

" _Sleep, Louis" she said sternly._

 _And so, with a sigh, Louis de Bourbon fell asleep._

The next morning, while Max was sure she was going to be called by Lolita, she got a surprise.

" _Max, Breakfast is ready" Adaline's soft voice called from the kitchen._

 _Max, was absolutely ecstatic. Her plan had worked! It had really worked!_

 _As she sat there and ate her blueberry and choc chip pancakes in that wonderful Rio hotel room, Adaline started to ask her._

" _So, about this name thing" she said while setting down her spatula and leaning over the counter. "I like this Max idea, it's very unique, it's strong. But Louis being the boring old fart he is doesn't so we agreed on something" Adaline told the ever so curious and suspicious Max._

" _We did?" Louis asked looking thoroughly confused._

" _Yes, Louis, last night" Adaline said in an overly sweet tone._

 _Understanding the tone in her voice, he simply watched to see what this so-called agreement was._

" _We decided, that your name will be Mackenzie" Adaline said causing a halt to Max's happy pancake scarfing._

 _Mackenzie? What the hell happened to Max?_

" _Now, just here me out" she said upon seeing her daughter's disapproving look. "On all the certificates and the boring paperwork, your name will say Mackenzie, but we and all your friends and family can call you Max" Adaline said._

 _Upon hearing this proposal, Max looked to be in very deep thought as her Dad watched her very intent and thoughtful look, doing his very best not to laugh at the cute face she made when her brows furrowed and she scrunched up her nose a bit._

" _So kinda like how your name is Adaline, but Louis calls you Addy?" Max asked._

" _Exactly like that" Adaline said with a snap of her fingers._

 _After a second Max smiled her rather adorable little kid smile and said a content little "okay"_

 _Adaline looked at Louis with a sort of "I told you" look while he rolled his eyes and went back to watching Barbie with Lily._

And that, was how Max went from Lolita to Max.

Mackenzie Avery Charlotte Lolita de Bourbon.

And the little boy, Christopher, became Reuben Christopher Michael.

Max had insisted on choosing his name too, much to Lily's disdain, who wanted to call him Joshua (after her crush who was staying two doors down from them).

It was October 17th when they went to England.

Max could already speak English and so Adaline and Louis weren't too worried. It was Reuben that would need adjusting.

Max got to see lots of new things when she went to England. She got to go to the airport, eat something called a donut, follow Lily _everywhere_ , watch suitcases move on some weird moving circle thing, meet a whole bunch of "flight attendants" as Louis called them, sit in a window seat with Adaline, which again, Lily (who got the aisle seat) was not happy about AND she got to fly. She didn't like the landing too much (and neither did poor Reuben who cried his little heart out) but it was lots of fun.

When they got to London (which was apparently where they we're going to live) they took her to see lots of things. The Big Ben (why they called a clock Ben she would never understand), Buckingham Palace ( _that_ she thought was completely awesome, she also decided she was marrying Prince William), Trafalgar Square, The London Eye, St Paul's Cathedral (which was pretty, but became less so after she had to go there for Easter church the following year), Tower Bridge, The British Museum, Hyde Park (she decided this was her favourite place ever) and London Zoo.

All in all, Max's first week in London was rather enjoyable.

Plus, she got her _own_ room.

They let her do whatever she wanted with it.

So, she painted the walls a rich emerald green (the color reminded her of the forests in Brazil), put pictures up of all sorts of animals, got a white bed with matching furniture and stuck little stars on the ceiling that lit up at night. Plus, she got like eight teddy bears.

It was four months after bringing them to England that they went on holiday to Spain.

More doctoring it seemed for Adaline and Louis.

More doctoring and adopting. This time, another little girl. A year younger than Max, Marie was honestly someone who could pass for her biological sister. Like Max, Marie had caramel-russet skin, almond shaped chocolate brown eyes and dark brown, almost black hair.

In fact, if you looked at their family you wouldn't really say that three out of four children were adopted. Adaline had the hair and skin all the children had, it was just the eyes. Lily inherited her father's honey colored eyes, Reuben had stunning bright green eyes (something both Max and her new sister grew to hate about him), Max had the brown. No one got Adaline's eyes. A lighter shade of hazel, green on the outside, brown on the inside.

This little girl, decided to rename herself as well, except she was much fussier about the process than what Max was. Eventually, after thorough research, little Marie decided on Samantha and so she became little Samantha Elizabeth Marie de Bourbon.

And thus, their family grew by one more member.

It was a month after bringing Sammy home that Adaline and Louis noticed that Max was different. Max was not normal. Max didn't get sick when everyone else got sick in the house. This was quite odd, seeing as even her parents, who were doctors and had a higher tolerance for sickness would get sick before she did, not that it happened often. Max also didn't get need stitches the one time she sliced her hand on the turkey carver on Christmas Eve, when both her parents inspected the cut and knew the cut was deep enough to warrant stitches. When the got to the hospital, the cut only needed cleaning and a bandage to prevent infection. A week later, and the mark was completely gone. It was then that they knew, Max was special. Deciding to keep it to themselves, it was kept that way for only a week.

While at the holiday home out in the country side, Reuben thought it might be fun to go play with some branches underneath the old oak tree by the south side of the property. Max watched him rather intently, he was pretty much her little diamond to protect from the world. While he played there was an audible cracking sound that Max had heard. Suddenly, what was clearly an extremely heavy branch, snapped off the tree and fell, heading straight for the younger boy. Max looked up, her had instinctively in the air and suddenly instead of falling, the branch was floating. Lily screamed. And when Adaline and Louis looked up from Sammy's new doll she was showcasing, they could hardly believe what they were seeing,

It was then they decided, Max could never let this be known. Louis knew the dangers of this sort of thing. He had an old ex colleague of this, Thaddeus Ross, who hunted people for this sort of thing. And he would die before he let Max become one of his test subjects. After what happened to his friend Bruce, he'd never let Ross near his children.

So, they sat their children down and explained, Max was special, she could do thigs that other children couldn't. But this could be dangerous, because not all people were nice, some people wanted special people to be in trouble for doing nothing other than existing. They made each of their children swear not to tell anyone about Max. and they didn't. Even Lily held her promise, this was clearly important.

At first, Lily didn't like it. Lily didn't like it at all. It was just what she needed really. First three siblings. Now one with magic powers? Great. Less attention for her. Her grandparents knew about Max too. And Max's godparents and some of her Dad's most trusted colleagues. They helped Max try control it. Lily just wanted someone to take her to ballet lessons and not worry about stupid Max. so naturally, she hated it. At least until Bobby Carroll was mean to her on the playground of their school in front of everyone and acorns started flying at his head from behind. All she saw was Max's rather arrogant, yet discreet smile, and she knew what had happened. After all, she was getting good at doing the same thing with the baseball for their dog. Yeah, they also got a dog. Fluffy little golden retriever named Winston. It also, was more tolerable when Max made Miss Hill's coffee explode in her face when she tried to give Max a detention for calling Stacy Lewis a clueless idiot. Lily didn't like Stacy much, so this made her like Max a little more.

When their grandparents visited and Max showed them stuff, Lily became annoyed again. That was before her grandmother noticed and told her of all the important things Lily would have to do. To keep her sister safe, be a protector. What she didn't know was that her grandmother made her father put her in karate class to further this little story so Lily didn't feel so left out. But it was cool. She could beat the boys in arm wrestling in under 20 seconds. Always.

Max didn't really know what to think of it Not at first. Then Adaline's mum, Grandma Winnie sat her down and told her she was special. She told her stories about Captain America, another special person. She said she was a good person. But she had to keep it secret. Because it was so rare it was basically unknown. _"Human beings tend to fear the unknown"._ The words she hadn't forgotten.

But her Dad helped her control it. Her Dad, her godfather and godmother Jason and Lucy Phillips, her uncles Toby Spencer and Michael Tierra, they taught her all sorts of things. Self-defense, meditation, Tai Chi. All to help her. And it worked.

When Max was 11, the unthinkable happened. Adaline discovered she was pregnant, with twins. Nine months later, Max had two baby brothers. Aiden and Miles. Max's life couldn't get any better. Everything was going well.

Until the accident anyway.

Aged 14, Max had gone to a party and had gotten drunk to the point where she had to be picked up by her parents. Driving peacefully (Adaline and Louis decided to have the talk with her the next morning when she was sober) she remembers few things. Only Adaline muttering something along the lines of "move to the States, brilliant idea" "bad idea" and "14 years old and alcohol?". And then a bang. A really loud bang. And the heat. Fire. Then there was a second bang which sent the car swerving. And then a third at which flames roared to life and had Max flying out of the back window, off the bridge and into the lake. She was dazed. But she did remember one thing. As she flew out of the window, she saw men, dressed in all black. She passed out before she hit the water.

She was found the next morning, four miles from the site, washed up on the banks of the river by an older couple and their son who were out for a morning walk. George and Mary Stevens and their 20- year old son Tommy were shocked to find the girl, but brought her to their home giving her water and juice to wake her up she couldn't remember anything. Not even her name. In and out of consciousness they immediately drove her to the hospital where a fellow Doctor, Julie Michael's recognized her colleagues' young daughter.

Checking her out, there were no obvious injuries. Nothing to worry about. Until she suddenly remembered everything. Her parents. What had happened to her parents? She couldn't stop having panic attacks. No one could cam her down. Then her best friend, Kiera Summers, who was notorious for learning things before anyone else did heard the sheriff taking about an accident involving the de Bourbon family and she had her older brother drive her straight to the hospital where she searched every ward before finding Max. she asked the doctors what had happened and she explained to her friend what the situation was. Her parents were both in surgery. And there was a great chance they wouldn't make it.

Lily came back from college distraught. There was a boy with her. Caleb Andrews. While Lily was in shock, this Caleb person explained he was her friend and was more than willing to help them or talk if they needed to. Apparently, he had lost his mother while young. The next few days were hell. Max went numb. Caleb made them all food while Lily did her best to comfort her siblings. Their grandparents all flew down from England and France respectively to help organize their guardianship. It was then that her parents will was found.

It was then decided. Until Lily was done with college and was able to look after them, Katie Nichols, their mum's best friend was to look after them. She was Lily's godmother and was married with no children. Daniel, her husband, was nice enough. They moved to bigger house two streets away but kept the house. Things slowly began to return to normal. Sort of. Lily went back to college, became a doctor like her parents, specializing in comatose patents and brain damage. Max, Sammy and Reuben all went back to school after a month. Aiden and Miles began kinder late but not too late. But things were somewhat normal.

All had returned to normal.

Except for Max's powers. They seemed to vanish.

Loss due to trauma or something like that.

Boy was she in for a surprise a few years down the track.


	2. Adulting

**Hello all my fabulous readers (small number, I do know). I finally present you with Chapter 2.**

 **So sorry for being MIA but my Wi-Fi died on me and had no proper Wi-Fi for roughly a month (my last post was done through library Wi-Fi) so I couldn't post or binge watch Netflix (which by the way sucked ass because I was on my six-week uni break). SO, I return to uni today and will probably have slow updates because I really wanna give my all this semester and see if I can actually survive the business aspects of my degree (doing a double in Nursing and Business, yes, it's a bloody odd degree).**

 **But on a happier, less "will she make it" note, I hope you all enjoy Chapter 2.**

 **I pray you enjoy, because I plan for this story to be a long one.**

 **Chapter 2: Adulting**

Max was in her senior year of high school. Apparently when this year was done, she was ready to become an adult according to the Unites States government.

"WE GOT MORE VODKA" Chelsea's voice rang out through the party.

The entire crowd cheered, including Max.

Adult? Somehow, Max seriously doubted that.

"C'mon, let's go get drunk off the good stuff" Mila's voice purred in her ear, interlocking arms with her and dragging her inside to the kitchen where her friends were.

"Oh, look who's rejoining civilization" Seth teased.

"Oh, shut up Seth" Max snapped playfully.

"She was all by her lonesome" Mila whined, the alcohol clearly doing its job for her.

"Hmm, waiting for me perhaps?" came the overly flirtatious voice of Sebastian as he grabbed her hand, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Hey, Seb, get your hands off my girl" a voice called while a pair of arms wrapped around Max's waist, pulling her backwards towards their body.

Instantly, a small smile appeared on Max's face.

"Listen Jake, everyone knows, okay. They know, she's dumping you for me" Seb said while Max rolled her eyes.

"Yeah and I'm Tinker Belle" Jake shot back sarcastically.

"Well, the blonde hair and green number would suit you" Sebastian said off handedly.

"Jake! You are not allowed to kiss her! I want her drunk. I need to see her drunk once!" Kiera said loudly.

"Yes ma'am" he saluted before asking in Max's ear. "Why does me kissing you constitute sobriety?" he asked.

Max shrugged. Making a noise that sounded like an "I don't know"

"How was cabin life with your grandparents?" he asked kissing her temple.

"As expected, boring, poor Sammy was distraught without Wi-Fi, Aiden and Miles enjoyed it. Reuben got to hunt with Grandpa." She surmised for him quickly.

"MAX!" a voice bellowed snapping the two love birds out their little bubble.

Looking up to see Eric she asked him what he wanted.

"Coming Friday?" he asked over the music.

"Yeah, Katie's bringing lasagna" she laughed. "You coming?" she asked turning to Jules.

"Ugh. Yeah, Dad's making me" he groaned.

"Dude what else are you gonna do?" Josh asked.

"Maddy's got a free house Friday" he answered with a smirk.

"Oh, ew, okay, enough of that" Ally said stopping him before he could elaborate on his intentions. Not that he needed to. Maddison Clark had quite the reputation for her sexual exploits. Not that Max wasn't all for sexual empowerment of females. But seriously, she slept with everyone. _Everyone_.

"SHOTS" Mila called.

"To senior year" Jake toasted.

"Senior year" everyone's voices echoed.

"All or nothing right?" Max asked turning her head to face Jake.

"All or nothing" he nodded.

And with that they downed their shots.

Two jaeger bombs and 3 tequilas' later, they ended up in the tree house making out as you would at any teenage house party. As expected.

"Miss me?" Jake asked kissing up and down her neck.

"Mmhm" she half-answered/half-sighed.

"Thought so" he smirked while carding his fingers through her hair. "I like the hair" he said admiring the beach waves compared to her normally somewhat straight hair.

"Course you do" Max smiled.

"Nice little number you got going on" he said pulling to back to admire the skin tight red dress clinging to her body. It had a high halter neckline reaching mid-thigh on her. She always did look good in red. Of course, she had her signature Adidas originals on her feet. She had an unhealthy obsession with white shoes.

"The dress or the lace under it?" Max said with a small smile, a single sculpted brow arched.

Letting his head drop back, he groaned, "You're killing me baby"

"I know" she said before kissing him again.

"Mmm" he moaned before pulling back. "So, I have to go visit Gran again this Saturday. Seth is staying at a friends and Mum's on business if you wanna spend Saturday night on the couch with me and Zeus, watching Netflix and eating foods we shouldn't eat" he said.

"You expecting Netflix or Netflix and chill?" Max asked, a hint of shyness in her voice.

"I would not object to the second option" he smirked while nuzzling her neck as she giggled.

"Oh my god, Jake" she groaned shyly, pushing lightly against his chest.

"Hey, no pressure. I want it to be special for you. Which means no dog, no couch and no crumbs" he said pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead.

"And if I want to?" he asked looking up at him. "Then what would you say?"

"I'd say I want to. Hell, I'd go all twelve rounds with you in this tree house" he laughed. "But I want you to be 100% comfortable and not have my childhood pirate wheel poking you in the back while half our year is drunk below us" he told her making her laugh lightly

"Good, because this tree house is way too cute to be defiled like that" she said seriously.

"hmm, stop talking and get over here' he said going to pull her in for another kiss.

"HEY LOVEBIRDS" Seb's voice boomed from below the tree earning an irritated groan from Jake.

"WHAT?" Jake yelled back sticking his head out of the window.

"KIERA SAID THE BABY MAKING TIME SLOT IS UP!" he called causing Max to laugh.

"We'll be down in a minute" Max said sticking her head out the window too.

"Come, my queen. The children need tending to" He said in an awful British accent.

Climbing down the tree before going back to the kitchen, it seemed as if none of her friends had moved. Well, none except for Eric who was currently very busy getting to know some girl, Kylie perhaps? On a whole other level.

"Hey, anyone seen Sammy?" Max asked to no one person in particular.

"Yeah. I think she's with Dion and Lola in the lounge" Chelsea said coming up for air from her somewhat important make out session with Seth.

"Thanks, Chels" Max said laughing as she went straight back to playing tonsil hockey with her boyfriend. "Hey, I'll be back in a minute, alright?" she said turning to Jake.

"Sure, go be all sisterly" he said.

Max could only roll her eyes in response.

Sure enough, in the lounge, sat Sammy with her two best friends Dion and Lola. They were like three peas in a pod. Dion was gay, and a bit of a princess. Lola was a cheerleader like Max and Sammy, but she had a bit more of an appreciation for the nerds (due to the fact she became fast friends with a little bookworm named Elle who was in Max's Literature class) and the cooks of the school.

Upon spotting her sister, Sammy immediately bombarded her with a question on the latest gossip.

"MACKIE! What do you think about the rumours of Mr Stancy and Miss Whitehall?" Sammy asked clearly very interested by the conversation.

"Poppycock" Max said immediately. "He's way too in love with his cat. Besides, isn't Whitehall seeing that new guy? You know, that new family that moved into town, the new girl's uncle or whatever? She's in your class, isn't she?" Max asked.

"Yeah Violet or Viola or something. She's in my bio class" Lola answered for Sammy who was downing some sort of cheap alcohol.

"You good to stay the night here?" Max asked Sammy.

"Why? You and Jake planning on doing the nasty in the tree house?" she snarked.

"No, you idiot. I've been drinking, so have you and either way you've only driven a total of five hours, none of which was night driving which means im not risking it" Max said. "Lily would have my head mounted on the wall"

"Yeah, but the alcohol in your system means tree house sexing, right?" Sammy pressed.

"Well, actually we were planning porch sex first, then pool sex, but yes Sammy. Tree house sex is on the list" Max said sarcastically.

"Knew it" she said. "But sure, Lola and I can stay, right?" she said turning to Lola.

"Sure" Lola shrugged.

"Thank you. Both of you" Max thanked them gratefully before zipping off to the kitchen again.

After two or three hours, the party died down and everyone went off the sleep, except for Max and Jake who lay in bed, still somewhat awake.

Lying face to face, mapping the lines and contours of his face, which looked even more beautiful in the moonlight. Normally she'd say things at this point, but she was as quiet as a mouse.

Noticing this Jake asked her, "What's on your mind?". Grabbing her hand and looking at her face for any signs of distress while brushing a few stray hairs off her face.

"Nothing" she said dazing into his beyond amazing hazel eyes.

Being a master at hiding her emotions, he knew better than to believe it.

"Is it about the conversation we had in the tree house?" he asked, this time really looking out for signals.

"No" she said shyly somewhat avoiding his gaze to which he simply raised a brow.

"Maybe" she surrendered.

"We don't have to-" he began only to be cut off.

"Just hear me out, okay?" she said before she could chicken out.

He nodded, curious to hear what she had to say.

"I still get nervous around you. It's stupid, I know, but I do. If we plan things out I'll just get more nervous and anxious. So, I think it should just happen when it happens. I don't mind you coming onto me, I'd let you know if something happened I'm not comfortable with. Just don't think that I don't wanna have sex with you. I do. I just don't know...how to go about it" Max admitted anxiously.

"Okay, first of all. It is not stupid that you're nervous. It isn't stupid at all. Secondly if you want whenever it happens, it'll happen whenever it happens. I won't ever mind coming onto you, but the second you feel uncomfortable, you tell me, I don't care how little or stupid or irrational you think it is, tell me. I won't be offended or think you're leading me on or anything." He told her.

It was things like this that made Jake Brookes the perfect boyfriend.

"I don't even have words to describe how perfect you are right now" Max smiled, looking up at him with her brown doe eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. You make me a better person" he huffed. "I was an ass before you came along" he said, reminiscing about before they became friends.

"You were a bit of an ass, weren't you?" Max said in deep thought.

"Y'know sweetness, that was cue for you to tell me what a great boyfriend I am and be a supportive girlfriend, how much if an ass I'm not and how I wasn't that bad-" Jake began only to be cut off.

"You were awful! I hated you with very good reason you know! You called me Queen Elizabeth and told me I couldn't handle anything stronger than Earl Grey Tea!" Max objected immediately.

"Yeah, okay, fair point." Jake surrendered.

"Yeah, that's right, tell me how right I am" Max smirked happily.

"Jesus, okay, you're right" Jake rolled his eyes before kissing her cheek.

"Y'know, you're feeding my power kink" she giggled.

"Oh. Your power kink huh?" he grinned suggestively, nudging her ribs with his knuckles. "I suppose we can discover the mechanics of that someday?"

"I suppose we shall" she smiled up at him shyly.

They shifted into a comfortable silence, lasting all of two minutes before Max's voice became audible.

"Hey Jake?" she asked quietly.

"Mmmm?" he mumbled cuddling her a bit tighter.

"We can have a slow, steamy make out session with some adventurous touching, right?" she said nonchalantly.

He let out a noticeably satisfied groan before hooking the hand that wasn't under her waist, over her waist and pulling her flush against his side, her nearly on top of him.

"Max de Bourbon you are the love of my life" Jake practically moaned before wrapping his hand around her neck and bringing her down for a kiss.


	3. Topsy Turvy

CHAPTER 3: TOPSY TURVY

 **My apologies for disappearing off the face of the earth, but I am a fandom girl. I got caught up in one of my other fandoms, the one that ruined my life, One Direction, more specifically, the little cinnamon roll that is Harry Edward Styles. Yes, my friends, I am one of those girls, but don't judge me. One Direction music saved me. And Harry's one hell of a feminist. And we don't find those too often. So I'm not gonna complain about my taste in men.**

 **ALSO AVENGER IS OUT 27** **TH** **OF APRIL FUCK YES BABY**

 **But, onto more important things, here is Chapter 3**

This was _not_ how James Barnes envisioned himself in his old age. His younger self imagined him old and grey with a wife and some grandchildren. This was also not how he envisioned spending his Friday night.

When Steve told him the key to being/feeling like an Avenger was to bond with his team mates, he did not envision sitting in a tree with Widow, Birdman 1 and Birdman 2, spying on a bunch of rowdy teenagers getting drunk at a house party. No, he envisioned beer and food. Not this.

When a giggle and a slight moan could be heard from the radio looking sound box that could hear everything in the house according to Romanoff, Sam's voice could be heard.

"This is wrong. I am a grown ass man, listening to two teenagers discussing losing their virginity while they make out. What if virginities are lost right now, while we listen. I'm telling you. Wrong" he shuddered while Romanoff smirked.

Bucky couldn't help but agree.

"Pedophilia" Sam said. "This is pedophilia"

Bucky nodded in agreement.

"Okay, first of all, the girl is the only one losing her virginity, the boy's already done it" Romanoff's low voice told Sam. "Secondly, pedophiles are only attracted to prepubescent children, I'd say these two are past that stage" she said while looking through her infrared binoculars. "Oh look, they have a cat" she added casually when a loud "meow" was heard through the magic sound box.

"Wrong" Sam muttered while Barton just chuckled.

Sitting in the silence, he began to think about things namely, he began to think about virginity. "Virginity". The status one holds when they've not yet had sex. According to Steve, Bucky had lost his virginity to Dorothy Miller, aged 15, after a date at Coney Island. Apparently, Bucky had gone into excruciatingly explicit detail about it the day after. So, Dorothy Miller was Bucky's first. Bucky had been the first for a lot of girls. Doris Miller (who just so happened to be Dorothy's cousin), he was the first boy to ever kiss her with tongue and spend every other day making out with her for their short-lived fling of two weeks. Betty Parkinson, he was the first guy she ever let get to second base with her. Katie Townsend. Bucky was Katie's first everything. He liked Katie, even if at first, she didn't get the whole Steve thing, she came to understand and respect Steve greatly. They went out for a whole six months when Bucky was 24. He would've settled down with her if it wasn't for her family moving to Oklahoma.

He wondered if he was this patient with girls. Because this Jake guy seemed like a saint. No, a Steve. Another moan broke through the magic sound box and Sam made a noise of disapproval.

" _You really like that huh?" Jake's voice came through the sound box. His voice was clearly thick and full of lust._

" _No girl is never not gonna enjoy her boyfriend kissing her neck while he draws patterns all over her body" Max said giddily. "I'm pretty sure we're hardwired to enjoy things like that" she said causing Jake to chuckle._

"Oh god. Cheesy romance" Sam said miserably.

Apparently, Sam didn't envision his Friday night to be like this either.

"Be happy that's all you get. I've been forced to listen to worse" Barton said grimacing.

"Slovenia?" Romanoff asked.

"Slovenia" Barton confirmed.

"I ain't even gonna ask what the hell happened in Slovenia" Sam said.

Eventually, the two teenagers fell asleep much to Sam's delight and Barton offered to take the first watch while they all slept. However, feeling more awake than ever, Bucky switched it to the second watch while he offered to take the first watch and keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.

Whipping out his notepad and writing down his old girlfriends' names, he noticed Romanoff come up behind him and start reading.

"Betty Parker, Dorothy Miller, Doris Miller, Jackie Cooper, Katie Townsend, Stacy Reed, Elizabeth Rockford, Mary Smith" her low voice read quietly. "Ex-girlfriends of yours I take it?" she asked.

When he didn't answer, she pieced it together. She always was unnaturally observant.

"Wow. They all lose their virginity to you?" she asked curiously.

He simply nodded.

"Steve was not kidding when he called a ladies' man, was he?" she smirked already knowing the answer.

"No" he chuckled.

He liked Romanoff. She didn't push too hard for certain things. She was friendly, didn't sugarcoat things for him and knew when he needed space. Plus, she stopped T'Challa from murdering him. What wasn't to like?

"So, how's the memory going?" she asked genuinely curious.

"Remembering a lot from HYDRA. But not much before that. Some things, but not a lot" he answered briskly.

"It'll come back" she assured him, placing a hand on his left shoulder.

"Let's hope so" he sighed.

Keeping up small talk before Clint took over, night became morning and one by one the teenagers began to leave.

Suddenly Romanoff's phone buzzed.

"Hey, what'd you guys find?" she said putting her phone on speaker.

"The energy trail is all over one house in particular. 62017 Mayfair Parade, which one lives there?" Wanda's voice came through.

"Both the siblings" Barton answered automatically.

"How do we know which one the energy is coming from?" Sam asked.

"We don't" Romanoff said scanning her tablet for information. "Meet at rendezvous point and make a plan from there?" Romanoff suggested.

"Sounds good to me" Bucky answered.

Exactly half an hour later, doing exactly that, they met at the house directly across 62017 Mayfair Parade and began to plan.

"Woah" Sam muttered. "Look at it spike" he said indicating to the energy tracker, designed by Bruce and Tony.

"it's gotta be one of them" Bucky said.

"Some micro-organisms appear stronger when in certain environments with appealing conditions" Vision said in his usual monotone voice.

"So, what, it feels safe because it's at home?" Barton asked.

"That is correct Mr. Barton" Vision said in what he deemed to be praise.

At least some of this was beginning to make sense. Some of the new science stuff flew over his head. And Bucky was good at science in school. Some things came faster than other stuff. Steve had only just finished teaching him about the TV, kitchen appliances and what a "Starbucks" was. It was a slow process, but he was getting there.

"So how do we know which girl it is?" Bucky asked. "Or do we go after both?"

"For the love of God! Winston!" a clearly exasperated voice snapped.

Suddenly the levels spiked again before settling down.

"Where'd it come from?" Wanda asked.

"Downstairs, older girl" Romanoff said in her clipped tone reserved for missions.

"Quick in and out grab, let's go" Clint ordered.

And so within five minutes they were all positioned outside windows and doors, with Vision ready to phase through walls and whatever other solid objects that served no purpose around the android.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Max saw a shadow near the door that didn't belong there and it was tall. Someone was outside. And hiding from her view. Something was not right.

"Hey Sammy?" Max's voice called to make sure her sister was okay.

When she got no answer, Max momentarily panicked.

"SAMMY?" she bellowed putting on a faux annoyed shout.

"Yeah?" Sammy called back down.

"Come down and help me cut up some veggies would you, gotta make that stupid frittata" Max shouted.

Hearing a thud, some shuffling the padded booms of feet running down the stairs, Sammy appeared in the kitchen, bracelet hidden under her sleeve. Before they knew it, a voice sounded behind them.

"Morning girls" Romanoff stood and smirked.

"What the fuck" was all Max could manage.

"Mackenzie, we're gonna need you to come down to New York" she said calmly like this was the most normal thing to ever happen.

"Like hell" Sammy said stepping up closer to her sister.

"Why?" Max demanded.

"Avengers business" was all Romanoff said.

"You work for the government, the accords made damn sure of that. What the hell does the U.S. Government want with a teenage girl?" she asserted.

Bucky had to give her credit. She was smart.

"Make sure you're not a threat to National Security" Romanoff answered honestly.

Now Max was genuinely confused.

"Me?" Max asked. "What sort of threat am I?" she asked.

"The type to catch the attention of the Avengers" Romanoff told her, stalling.

"Is this part of that Helicarrier thing? Because I'm not threat, haven't been for over three years, grades went down a long time ago" Max said uncertainly.

Scratch that. She was really smart. Bucky thought to himself.

"Not quite" Romanoff smiled.

It was at that moment Clint shot a tranquilizer at Sammy, causing a sheer golden bubble to form before it could get within a foot of her neck in which it rebounded and fell to the floor with a clink. Then a smirk appeared on Max's face.

"Your friends gonna wish he didn't do that" she said quietly.

Then it was all high speed.

Sammy whipped around at top speed and threw a beam of energy at the window, shattering it, effectively forcing Clint out of his hiding spot. Running across the yard he hid behind a tree while Romanoff ran at Max only to be kicked back at an unbelievable strong kick aimed at her abdomen. Nodding to Clint, Bucky covered him while they both ran into the house before the archer took a shot, this time at Max. But the younger girl was on guard and deflected it easily. Suddenly Sam was there and grabbed Max from behind only to have her elbow him at the bottom of his hip. Taking advantage of his slight surprise Max turned around and delivered a series of quick jabs to torso with her index and middle finger and Sam dropped like a fly. This definitely surprised Bucky who ran at the older girl while she flipped out of the way. Another arrow flew at Max but this time instead of Sammy doing the work, Max caught it effortlessly with her left hand. Rolling towards her, Romanoff got kicked back as if she were nothing but a soccer ball, flying in her air before Bucky grabbed her by the waist, stopping her from crashing into a wall as the girl ran off to her sister.

"Are you okay?" he asked the ex-assassin, concerned.

"Damn, she's strong" Romanoff winced accepting Bucky's help to stand.

Holding off Clint and Wanda, Sammy appeared to be a strong and quick opponent. But from what he'd seen, the younger girl had the powers, not the older, which made no sense whatsoever. Clint couldn't get to her because of the shield and Wanda's magic was almost useless. Suddenly, Vision's crystal of wonder that resided in his head shot at a stone next to the girl momentarily distracting her allowing Clint to get to jump on her and pull an arm towards him, attempting to restrain her when the younger girl jabbed at his shoulder with two fingers like her sister had done to Sam earlier. Just like that his arm fell limp and became a weight for him. She quickly jabbed the other shoulder causing his other arm to be rendered useless before moving to Wanda and Vision.

It took eight minutes for the younger sister to fall to Wanda and Vision. Seeing her sister fall to her knees in exhaustion, Max fought even harder against Romanoff and Bucky. She jabbed at his left shoulder, a feat which proved to be useless due to his bionic limb. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders he tried to calm her.

"Stop fighting" he told her as she struggled.

"Not bloody likely" she snapped before head butting him with her chin causing him to stagger back at the force. She had a really hard skull.

"Take the younger girl" Romanoff shouted.

"SAMMY" Max screamed before Bucky slid across the floor to tackle her legs which she narrowly avoided by jumping just in time.

Surrounded by Wanda, Romanoff and Bucky she knew she had slim chances of winning but it didn't stop her trying. But when Wanda waved her hand and a red glow engulfed Max's whole body, consciousness took her and she fell forwards towards Bucky who managed to catch her right on time.

And that was how Max de Bourbon ended up unconscious and in the custody of the Avengers.


End file.
